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It is feared that the move will lead to a huge migrant rush to reach Britain, with the Channel Tunnel now just a comfortable rail journey away for tens of thousands of people currently stranded in southern Europe.

An internal note to staff told them: "Starting from Monday October 5, 2015 and until further notice, some routes can hand out, if conditions permit it, zero-euro bookings for exceptional measures to ease regulating life on board and the comfort of other passengers."

It says the fees should be waived if staff are faced with "an abnormally large group of individuals wanting to board without tickets towards a specific destination."

But the move has been greeted with fury by politicians on both sides of the channel.

It's not right, it's intolerable

French politician Xavier Bertrand

UKIP MEP Mike Hookem, who was recently threatened by a gun-toting migrant during a trip to Calais, said: "So now we know the French answer to the migrant crisis; get them to Calais to try their luck getting to the UK."

Meanwhile French politicians blasted the policy, which they said discriminates against poor people who still have to pay their fares.

Xavier Bertrand, of the opposition Republic Party, said: "There shouldn't be free trains for immigrants. It's not right, it's intolerable. SNCF and the state must explain this situation."

Marine Le Pen, of the far-Right National Front, said many of the migrants would use the free trains to get to Calais, and then on to Britain.

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She said: "By helping illegal migrants with their journeys, you must realise that you are only making the situation worse in Calais, and all camps along the Channel coast."

"Many of these illegal migrants are seeking to reach England. It is irresponsible to allow entire groups of people to calmly travel and join all those already squashed into insalubrious camps, where they are prey to dealers and gangsters.

"You are facilitating via this lax measure the dirty work of people smugglers."

At least 4,000 migrants are currently living in vast illegal camps in the Calais area, from where they will board ferries and trains to get to the UK.

The situation was particularly tense in the port yesterday, as striking security guards blocked entry to lorries and demanded reinforcements to deal with the increasing numbers of illegal migrants.

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A spokesman for SNCF defended the memo, saying: "There are no free tickets. What's been put in place is possible free booking to attribute numbered seats to (migrants) so they remain grouped together and to avoid any risk of conflict between passengers if (migrants) take seats reserved by others."

The spokesman added: "These people are controlled like anyone else, they must have a ticket like anyone else, and can be fined like anyone else."

However, he admitted staff had been told to be "understanding" in dealing with migrants without tickets.

He said: "For us, these are not cheats looking to exploit the system. These are people very often in an exceptional situation of distress and fatigue. It is normal to handle them with humanity."